1 Copyright (c) 1999, 2003, 2006
2 Free software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end of the file for copying permissions.
5 This file describes what you must or might want to do to termcap entries
6 to make terminals work properly and efficiently with Emacs. Information
7 on likely problems with specific types of terminals appears at the end
10 *** What you want in a terminal ***
13 1. Easy to compute suitable padding for.
14 2. Never ever sends ^S/^Q unless you type them, at least in one mode.
17 1. Supports insert/delete of multiple lines in one command.
18 2. Same for multiple characters, though doing them one by
19 one is usually fast enough except on emulators running on
20 machines with bitmap screens.
23 1. Considerably more than 24 lines.
24 2. Meta key (shift-like key that controls the 0200 bit
25 in every character you type).
27 *** New termcap strings ***
29 Emacs supports certain termcap strings that are not described in the
30 4.2 manual but appear to be standard in system V. The one exception
31 is `cS', which I invented.
33 `AL' insert several lines. Takes one parameter, the number of
34 lines to be inserted. You specify how to send this parameter
35 using a %-construct, just like the cursor positions in the `cm'
38 `DL' delete several lines. One parameter.
40 `IC' insert several characters. One parameter.
42 `DC' delete several characters. One parameter.
44 `rp' repeat a character. Takes two parameters, the character
45 to be repeated and the number of times to repeat it.
46 Most likely you will use `%.' for sending the character
47 to be repeated. Emacs interprets a padding spec with a *
48 as giving the amount of padding per repetition.
50 WARNING: Many terminals have a command to repeat the
51 *last character output* N times. This means that the character
52 will appear N+1 times in a row when the command argument is N.
53 However, the `rp' string's parameter is the total number of
54 times wanted, not one less. Therefore, such repeat commands
55 may be used in an `rp' string only if you use Emacs's special
56 termcap operator `%a-c\001' to subtract 1 from the repeat count
57 before substituting it into the string. It is probably safe
58 to use this even though the Unix termcap does not accept it
59 because programs other than Emacs probably won't look for `rp'
62 `cs' set scroll region. Takes two parameters, the vertical
63 positions of the first line to include in the scroll region
64 and the last line to include in the scroll region.
65 Both parameters are origin-zero. The effect of this
66 should be to cause a following insert-line or delete-line
67 not to move lines below the bottom of the scroll region.
69 This is not the same convention that Emacs version 16 used.
70 That is because I was led astray by unclear documentation
71 of the meaning of %i in termcap strings. Since the termcap
72 documentation for `cs' is also unclear, I had to deduce the
73 correct parameter conventions from what would make the VT-100's
74 `cs' string work properly. From an incorrect assumption about
75 %i, I reached an incorrect conclusion about `cs', but the result
76 worked correctly on the VT100 and ANSII terminals. In Emacs
77 version 17, both `cs' and %i work correctly.
79 The version 16 convention was to pass, for the second parameter,
80 the line number of the first line beyond the end of the
83 `cS' set scroll region. Differs from `cs' in taking parameters
84 differently. There are four parameters:
85 1. Total number of lines on the screen.
86 2. Number of lines above desired scroll region.
87 3. Number of lines below (outside of) desired scroll region.
88 4. Total number of lines on the screen, like #1.
89 This is because an Ambassador needs the parameters like this.
92 Emacs will not attempt to use ^M, ^J or ^H for cursor motion
93 unless these capabilities are present and say to use those
96 `km' Says the terminal has a Meta key.
98 Defining these strings is important for getting maximum performance
101 Make sure that the `ti' string sets all modes needed for editing
102 in Emacs. For example, if your terminal has a mode that controls
103 wrap at the end of the line, you must decide whether to specify
104 the `am' flag in the termcap entry; whichever you decide, the `ti'
105 string should contain commands to set the mode that way.
106 (Emacs also sends the `vs' string after the `ti' string.
107 You can put the mode-setting commands in either one of them.)
109 *** Specific Terminal Types ***
111 Watch out for termcap entries for Ann Arbor Ambassadors that
112 give too little padding for clear-screen. 7.2 msec per line is right.
113 These are the strings whose padding you probably should change:
114 :al=1*\E[L:dl=1*\E[M:cd=7.2*\E[J:cl=7.2*\E[H\E[J:
115 I have sometimes seen `\E[2J' at the front of the `ti' string;
116 this is a clear-screen, very slow, and it can cause you to get
117 Control-s sent by the terminal at startup. I recommend removing
118 the `\E[2J' from the `ti' string.
119 The `ti' or `vs' strings also usually need stuff added to them, such as
120 \E[>33;52;54h\E[>30;37;38;39l
121 You might want to add the following to the `te' or `ve' strings:
123 The following additional capabilities will improve performance:
124 :AL=1*\E[%dL:DL=1*\E[%dM:IC=4\E[%d@:DC=4\E[%dP:rp=1*%.\E[%a-c\001%db:
125 If you find that the Meta key does not work, make sure that
127 is present in the termcap entry.
129 Watch out for termcap entries for VT100's that fail to specify
130 the `sf' string, or that omit the padding needed for the `sf' and `sr'
131 strings (2msec per line affected). What you need is
132 :sf=2*^J:sr=2*\EM:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:
134 The Concept-100 and Concept-108 have many modes that `ti' strings
135 often fail to initialize. If you have problems on one of these
136 terminals, that is probably the place to fix them. These terminals
137 can support an `rp' string.
139 Watch out on HP terminals for problems with standout disappearing on
140 part of the mode line. These problems are due to the absence of
141 :sg#0: which some HP terminals need.
143 The vi55 is said to require `ip=2'.
145 The Sun console should have these capabilities for good performance.
146 :AL=\E[%dL:DL=\E[%dM:IC=\E[%d@:DC=\E[%dP:
148 The vt220 needs to be set to vt220 mode, 7 bit, space parity
149 in order to work fully with TERM=vt220.
151 If you are using a LAT terminal concentrator, you need to issue these
152 commands to turn off flow control:
154 set port flow control disable
155 define port flow control disable
157 On System V, in the terminfo database, various terminals may have
158 the `xt' flag that should not have it. `xt' should be present only
159 for the Teleray 1061 or equivalent terminal.
161 In particular, System V for the 386 often has `xt' for terminal type
162 AT386 or AT386-M, which is used for the console. You should delete
163 this flag. Here is how:
165 You can get a copy of the terminfo "source" for at386 using the
166 command: `infocmp at386 >at386.tic'. Edit the file at386.tic and remove
167 the `xt' flag. Then compile the new entry with: `tic at386.tic'.
169 It is also reported that these terminal types sometimes have the wrong
170 reverse-scroll string. It should be \E[T, but sometimes is given as \E[S.
172 Here is what watserv1!maytag!focsys!larry recommends for these terminals:
174 # This copy of the terminfo description has been fixed.
175 # The suggestions came from a number of usenet postings.
177 # Intel AT/386 for color card with monochrome display
179 AT386-M|at386-m|386AT-M|386at-m|at/386 console,
182 acsc=``a1fxgqh0jYk?lZm@nEooppqDrrsstCu4vAwBx3yyzz{{||}}~~,
183 bel=^G, blink=\E[5m, bold=\E[1m, cbt=\E[Z,
185 cr=\r, cub=\E[%p1%dD, cub1=\E[D, cud=\E[%p1%dB,
186 cud1=\E[B, cuf=\E[%p1%dC, cuf1=\E[C,
187 cup=\E[%i%p1%02d;%p2%02dH, cuu=\E[%p1%dA, cuu1=\E[A,
188 dch=\E[%p1%dP, dch1=\E[P, dl=\E[%p1%dM, dl1=\E[1M,
189 ech=\E[%p1%dX,ed=\E[J, el=\E[K, el1=\E[1K\E[X, flash=^G, home=\E[H,
190 hpa=\E[%i%p1%dG, ich=\E[%p1%d@, ich1=\E[1@, il=\E[%p1%dL, il1=\E[1L,
191 ind=\E[S, indn=\E[%p1%dS, invis=\E[9m,
192 is2=\E[0;10;38m, kbs=\b, kcbt=^], kclr=\E[2J,
193 kcub1=\E[D, kcud1=\E[B, kcuf1=\E[C, kcuu1=\E[A,
194 kdch1=\E[P, kend=\E[Y, kf1=\EOP, kf10=\EOY, kf11=\EOZ,
195 kf12=\EOA, kf2=\EOQ, kf3=\EOR, kf4=\EOS, kf5=\EOT,
196 kf6=\EOU, kf7=\EOV, kf8=\EOW, kf9=\EOX, khome=\E[H,
197 kich1=\E[@, knp=\E[U, kpp=\E[V, krmir=\E0, rev=\E[7m, ri=\E[T,
198 rin=\E[%p1%dT, rmacs=\E[10m, rmso=\E[m, rmul=\E[m,
199 sgr=\E[10m\E[0%?%p1%p3%|%t;7%;%?%p2%t;4%;%?%p4%t;5%;%?%p6%t;1%;%?%p9%t;12%;%?%p7%t;9%;m,
200 sgr0=\E[0;10m, smacs=\E[12m, smso=\E[7m, smul=\E[4m,
203 # AT&T 386 color console
205 AT386|at386|386AT|386at|at/386 console,
206 colors#8, ncv#3, pairs#64,
209 setb=\E[%?%p1%{0}%=%t40m
217 setf=\E[%?%p1%{0}%=%t30m
228 # Color console version that supports underline but maps blue
229 # foreground color to cyan.
231 AT386-UL|at386-ul|386AT-UL|386at-ul|at/386 console,
238 This document is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
239 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
240 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
241 (at your option) any later version.
243 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
244 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
245 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
246 GNU General Public License for more details.
248 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
249 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
250 Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA